Mein Kampf On The Rebound

There’s a time in everyone’s life when you look back at the things you have done and decide that growth, learning from your mistakes and trying to be a better person is the most important thing for your future.

Sadly, this isn’t that story.

Some would say that like a racist cockroach surviving a nuclear winter, the scourge that is Adolf Hitler just can’t seem to die, further exemplified by the recent reprinting of Mein Kampf, Hitler’s swan song to mass indoctrination and human massacre. But, is that really the case? Today we examine the recent reprint of Mein Kampf and the impact it could have on modern society.

A Game Of Rights

Scholars have toyed around with idea of re-releasing the infamous dictator’s inflammatory book – which outlines strategies to exterminate entire peoples, as well as Hitler’s attitude towards the so-called “Jewish issue” – but when the heavily annotated version of Mein Kampf, published by Munich-based Institute for Contemporary History, hit store shelves earlier this year for the first time in 70 years, with an original print run of 4,000 copies, the book sold out within a week.

The recent re-release is due in part to a copyright claim, originally held by the government of Bavaria, that expired on January 1, 2016.

Considered a failure when it was first released in two volumes in 1925 and 1926, it went on to sell around 5.2 million copies between the Nazi power grab in 1933 and the outbreak of WWII in 1939. Despite a price tag of €59 (US$64), with copies of the new edition being put on re-sale on the German Amazon website for as high as €385, demand for new copies has led to more than 15,000 advance orders being made.

The publisher has also received requests to translate the edition into Italian, French and English.

Safety Not Guaranteed

With racial tensions stretched beyond breaking point in just about every corner of the globe, the fact the reprint sold out in less than a week, in Germany nonetheless, could be cause for concern, but, even before Hitler’s diatribe hit the bookstores in January, the German Teacher’s Association proposed that the Nazi manifesto be taught in high schools in order to help “immunize” youngsters against far-right ideologies.

A recent poll released by YouGov, however, suggests a different reality: two out of five Germans are concerned that reprinting Mein Kampf could serve to bolster the rise of the far-right in the country.

Sound scary? Maybe we should release our own manifesto outlining the failures and concerns of the rise of the far right in our own country.

We could call it, “Trump: A History Of Dump Trucks And How They Influenced Donald Trump’s Mouth.”

What are your thoughts? Is it due time the tyrant’s personal journal be re-released in print form for the world to pick apart? Since it can already be found online, does releasing physical copies serve to bolster already misguided groups? Let us know what you think: comment below and share on Facebook!